The Jeremy Lin signing has become a minor problem for the Warriors. It’s a sign, other than the terrible way they’ve been playing, that the honeymoon of new ownership is over and we’re now dealing with reality. The little things matter.
It’s not the money – Lin’s contract is roughly half a million this year and roughly $750,000 next year – it’s the fact that he’s under a (partially) guaranteed contract and is taking up roster space on a Warriors team that started off the year with two of its key reserve big men, Lou Amundson and Ekpe Udoh, on the disabled list. That forced the Warriors to sign power-forward training camp invitee, Jeff Adrien, to a non-guaranteed contract (but that still takes up roster space).
Jeff Adrien on Jason Richardson
It’s a problem because Lin isn’t ready for the NBA and Jeff Adrien is. This is evidenced by Lin’s limited playing time and tentativeness when he’s on the court. Despite making defensive contributions, the Warriors already thin in backcourt depth, need consistent and reliable production from the reserve point guard position. Lin needs time in the D-League.
The Warriors signed Acie Law. Remember him? He’s okay I guess. He should be an upgrade over Lin right now. This should give the Warriors the luxury of sending Lin down to the D-League (once Curry is healthy again), but he still takes up a roster spot because he’s under contract.
Thus, because Amundson is now active and Udoh soon to follow, Adrien was the odd man out when it came to making room for Acie Law because Adrien’s contract is non-guaranteed. In other words, Adrien was the cheapest player to cut. Which is unfortunate because Adrien seems like a player the Warriors could really use: rebounds well, doesn’t get moved off the block, and is active on both ends of the court. He was productive when he was in the game. But hopefully Amundson and Udoh can fill that void.
Hey Joe, focus on the little things, mm'kay?
The Warriors didn’t have to give Lin a guaranteed contract; they didn’t have to sign him, period. But it’s clear that the immediate benefit of signing him was more about marketing to the Asian American fan base than it was about having adequate backcourt depth, at least in the beginning of the season. Lin’s a project and I don’t think the Warriors can afford that right now (look at their record and how many minutes Curry and Ellis are playing).
It’s a problem because Joe Lacob didn’t have the foresight to leverage against this issue: injuries, development, and more injuries; a player with more skill is sacrificed because Lacob made an impulse buy all while NOT being the owner. Hey, maybe it’s paying off through merchandise sales but given last year’s injury woes that granted a hardship exemption from the league, allowing them to carry more than 15 players on their active roster, you would think Lacob & Co. could have planned a little better. But they didn’t. I don’t fault Jeremy Lin – I actually think he’ll be a decent player someday, but Lin is Lacob’s pet project and it’s currently hurting the Warriors. All that being said, this is a minor problem for the immediate future but perhaps a glimpse into bigger problems long-term.
In the professional team sport where you get the fewest roster spots, it kills teams who waste more than 2 or 3 on players who could be replaced by better players from off the street (NBDL or overseas). Jeremy Lin, Brandan Wright (I’ve fully given up on him), Vladimir Radmanovic, Charlie Bell and Dan Gadzuric all fit in that category right now, although Gadzuric has given some good minutes here and there.
Add in injuries to Udoh and now Curry, and this is a VERY shallow team. Throw in a new coach and a team that has never won anything together, and it’s an even worse situation. And yes, Lin was a marketing move, one that doesn’t seem so fun and groundbreaking when you lose 12 of 14.
Thank you for the comments, BASG. Yes, totally agree. Players such as Vlad, Bell, and Gadzuric were players Riley acquired to shed Stack Jack’s bad attitude and contract and Maggette’s bad contract and questionable fit for the team’s future. At this point, I might even consider Maggette as a better option than D. Wright, Gadz, and Bell because he’s only one roster spot and he was good at what he did, night in and night out. These moves were for more flexibility in the future, which is fine, but we’re seeing how it immediately impacts a team, in a bad way. It’s compounded by injuries, signing guys for marketing potential, and bad trades from the past (B. Wright…ugh).
I just wish the Warriors had traded a future 2nd-round pick to someone in 2009 and picked up Patty Mills, who went to the Blazers (25th pick in the 2nd round). He was playing at the same level of Chris Paul and Deron Williams in the Olympics as a 20-year-old, but he wasn’t good enough for several NBA teams. O….kayyyyy….
On a brighter note, I see this as Lacob is in to marketing, drawing fans at all angles, which utilmately there is one way to go, which is to move to San Francisco, hopefully next to the Giants. Giants became a good team and recognized after moving to a new ball park, there were a lot of excitement around the new ball park, hopefully one day GSW gets to move to SF and have the same success. I see the Jeremy Lin signing as a trait that will eventually lead to moving to SF. its marketing…..SF is way better compare to Oakland.
All this Jeremy Lin talk is over blown, granted I agree he is not ready, and we over paid for him. The Warriors lack talent, it doesnt matter who we sign, they are all scrubs, and cant play in real NBA team, why are we arguing for guys who are sitting at the end of bench, any player D-league or FA we pick up is not going to make us win 3 more games in a 82 game season, Yes…they can help us a little by losing a game by 10 points instead of losing the game by 15 points, but not enough talent to win more games…
Marketing is great, but it’s something the fans shouldn’t worry about. All fans care about is wins and losses. If you’re going to gamble a bit on a Jeremy Lin, you shouldn’t hope he’ll be a decent backup PG, you should leverage against the possibility that he will not be a decent backup PG (I was hoping it would work out, but I realize it’ll take time if nothing else).
You’re right, Lin talk is overblown. Although, this blog post wasn’t really about Lin specifically. At the same time, small things like this effect the big things. Not having a proper backup PG has forced Curry and Monta to play a lot of minutes (diminishing their effectiveness) and has forced the FO to make some undesirable moves like cutting Adrien, who is NBA ready (a team can never have enough healthy big bodies).
Thanks for your comment, Andy!
Lin isn’t ready because of his limited playing time? That reasoning sounds a bit circular. I think the problem is that Lin hasn’t been given a decent Opportunity to prove whether or not he is ready. If Lin was actually given 18 min of real PT (like Law was given going 0-4, etc.) and produced the same numbers as his less than 5 min of garbage PT, then I’d be more comfortable saying he should be sent to the D-league to open up a roster spot.
Until then, Coach Smart is paying lip service to his emphasis on defense. And we’ll see the same story night after night with the W’s trying to crawl back into games with hot shooting.
Thanks for commenting, Chicken/Egg. Sorry for my wording (I will fire my editor immediately). All joking aside, I meant that the limited PT Lin is getting is a sign that the coach doesn’t trust him. Hence, not ready.
We can argue whether or not more PT would allow him to come out of the wood works, but we can only guess as to why he’s not getting (consistent) PT and why he’s not showing he can run an NBA offense.
I would argue that he’s just not ready, mentally. On defense, he seems physically capable of being decent (I think he gets around screens better than Steph Curry, if that means anything).
By going to the D-League, he’d get consistent minutes and wouldn’t be restricted to just dribbling across half-court and passing the ball. He would be given a little more freedom. And that’s part of the problem I see with Smart. I appreciate him not wanting to run-n-gun the Don Nelson way, but it seems to be bottle-necking the decision making for some of the guys.
I’d like to add that Lin is a rookie and his PT is indicative of what an undrafted rookie of his type should be getting. I think it shows that while he had a good summer league and performed well as a basketball player, the staff still doesn’t have the confidence in exploring that side of Lin just yet. I hate to defend the coaching staff right now, but I agree that giving free reign to a rookie might create some bad habits.
Finally, for a team that is struggling to find production from the bench, especially at backup PG, it seems obvious they would let Lin get some run. But instead, Curry and Ellis are playing 40+ min games. I’m not sure whether it’s Smart wanting to develop some cohesiveness with the starting lineup or he just doesn’t have confidence in the bench, whatsoever. I mean, last night against the Heat, he ran the starting lineup deep into the 4th quarter when they were down by god knows how many points. It seemed a little cruel.